Unease grows among U.S. doctors over Indian drug quality

cp418 · March 2014

http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/03/18/usa-india-genericdrugs-idINDEEA2H03120140318

dlb823 · March 2014

This is extremely disturbing and something I've been worried about, especially since I'm now on two generic drugs -- anastrozole and a pain med, and sometimes the latter doesn't seem to do anything. I've asked two pharmacists about this, and they both felt that if a particular batch is a problem, it would be recalled, but I'm not so sure....

Is there a way to tell where our generics are made? Deanna

Blessings2011 · March 2014

Deanna:

For
the first year, I took generic Anastrozole. Printed on the bottle label was the
line Mfr: Breckenridge

I
did a Google search of Breckenridge Drug Manufacturer Anastrozole, and on page
18 of the 20 pages of information, I found

Manufactured by:

Natco
Pharma Limited

Kothur
- 509 228. A.P. India.

Distributed by:

Breckenridge
Pharmaceutical, Inc.,

Boca
Raton, FL33487

I then switched to generic Letrozole in August 2012. I did another Google Search of
the name that was on my label - Mfr: Accord
Healthcare Inc Letrozole - and found

Manufactured For:

Accord Healthcare, Inc.,

1009 Slater Road,

Suite 210-B,

Durham, NC 27703,

USA.

Manufactured By:

Intas Pharmaceuticals Limited,

Plot No. : 457, 458,

Village – Matoda,

Bavla Road, Ta.- Sanand,

Dist.- Ahmedabad – 382 210.

India.

So, somewhere on your
label is the name of the “Drug Manufacturer”, which is probably just the local
distributor. The actual medication is likely produced in India.

This is the link that
gave me the above information.

http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/about.cfm

leggo · March 2014

The following website is helpful when it comes to generic drugs. For some drugs, it won't outright tell you where the drug was manufactured, unless you know the details, but you can cross reference the product ID numbers and the manufacturing codes, along with the name of the pharmaceutical company. Once you have that you can determine country of origin by a more detailed google search of that company. I checked out my metformin and my statin and both were manufactured by a Canadian pharma company.

http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/mobile/index.cfm

leggo · March 2014

Oops, sorry. Blessings beat me to it.

dlb823 · March 2014

Wow, Blessings, what great advice! Thank you so much! I've just looked up both, and Accord's Anastrozole is made in India (as you already figured out and noted above). My pain med is made in the USA. Deanna

new2bc · January 2015

dlb823,

Do you still take the anastrozole from Accord? This is my first month on this with no side effects besides hot flashes. Did you change to another company not manufactured by India? I am scared of more side effects coming down the road and I have heard the TEVA brand has less side effects. If you are still using the Accord, did your side effects get worse? Thanks.

besa · January 2015

Thank you CP418 for posting this article and leggo and blessings for posting the links. I have been concerned about this issue and have been trying hard to avoid Indian drug manufacturers. I was not aware of the problem of labeling where distributors look like they are manufacturers.....

SpecialK · January 2015

dlb823 - I take TEVA generic Femara and it is manufactured in Jerusalem and distributed by a US distributor in Pennsylvania. When I fill the prescription. It does not come in a pharmacy container - it is still in the original sealed 30-day container from the maker with all of this info clearly shown.

MFPM · April 2018

Though I see these postings are from a few years ago, I'm going through something now and just realized. Almost 2 weeks ago I began getting excruciating pains in my left arm, constant, 24/7, not the surgical side. It's been getting worse, feeling weak, body aches now and exhaustion much of the time. Emotionally I've been a mess, feel like crying and am at my wits end with depression. I've been to 2 Drs. in 2 weeks, not my Onc yet, but after an X-ray and pain meds given by the 2nd which I didn't even pick up, I just realized something. I've been taking Letrozole by Teva for MONTHS, no problem like this and then 2 weeks ago, I began Letrozole by Accord, then the pain set in days later! I did a search for that co. and gave me a link to this conversation, though I've been a member on here for a few years. I BET it's the change of co's., the med from Accord is messing me up! I will call my Onc tomorrow and have to be demanding for him to do something, as in call in Letrozole by Teva or something!

Denise-G · April 2018

MFPM - as someone who has been on Anastrozole for 5.5 years, absolutely the manufacturer makes the difference. I have been to tons of different pharmacies trying to get what works best for me. My best recommendation is call many pharmacies to see what manufacturer they are carrying.

marijen · April 2018

Yay! The system is working. I didn’t have a problem until I started taking letrosole from Breckenridge. I asked my MO to prescribe Teva but she ignored, didn’t want to talk about it.

S3K5 · April 2018

This is a very interesting topic - looking back, I realize that some pain medicines worked better than the others. Based on the information stated above, I checked on the bottles for the manufacturer's name. But my pharmacy transfers every thing into one of their brown bottles and none of the information about the manufacturer is available on it. I know it is a different manufacturer by the shape and color of the tablets. Next time, I will ask the pharmacist to give me the original bottle. Don't know if he will comply or if there is a rule in NJ about this.

Indian pharmaceutical manufacturing is not as regulated as in the USA. Scary!

Thanks for all the useful information!

S3K5.

Unease grows among U.S. doctors over Indian drug quality

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